Looking at the latest rankings of every U.S. county's health status, it's difficult not to think of Garrison Keillor's sign-off from his news from Lake Woebegone, where "all the children are above average."

That pretty much describes how data gathered by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University portray Lehigh and Northampton counties. The valley's counties are unchanged in their statewide positions as compared to last year. And that means that the region's residents are in somewhat better shape than the average Pennsylvanian, but can improve a lot. (They rank 23rd and 25th among the state's 67 counties in overall scores.)

The researchers again put out a nifty site that provides rankings of counties based on a range of outcomes, including reported premature deaths, poor physical health days and teen pregnancy rates; and health factors, such as smoking, excessive drinking, access to health care, air pollution and poverty rates.

The goal is for local health officials, businesses and individuals to plot a roadmap to health by producing comparative data.

According to the data, Lehigh and Northampton's "physical environment," including pollution rates, access to recreational facilities and availability of fast food, is the area to work on improving.

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ABOUT THE WRITERS

TIM DARRAGH has been reporting and editing the news for 30 years, most of it at The Morning Call. For much of that time, he's been doing award-winning investigative and in-depth reporting projects. Tim created the three-year-long Change of Heart project, and wrote a series on the state's fractured food inspection system that led to widespread improvements in food safety. Meantime, that novice jogger you see plodding along the streets around Bethlehem Township? That would be Tim.